Edward's Life Past and Present
by The Irish Cullen
Summary: Wanting to share elements of his past with his daughter, Edward takes Renesmee around his Chicago to show her the remains of the world he grew up in. A nice fluffy, father - daughter one shot.


**When I started kicking around the idea for 'I Am Not There, I Do Not Sleep' I got duel ideas. This never works out well. For awhile I tried incorporating the two but it didn't work. I wanted to tell a morose story of one man's coming of age without his parent as well as a light hearted moment between father and Daughter.**

**It didn't work out very well because the two moments were very different.**

**This is a complete stand alone story and is more to do with Edward the father, rather that Edward the husband. It doesn't have anything to do with 'I Am Not There, I Do Not Sleep' it just starts off quite similar.**

**If you're looking for a more serious take on the idea I would suggest reading 'I Am Not There, I Do Not Sleep' but if you're looking for a cute Daddyward/Nessie moment look no further than this point.**

**EPOV**

I walked through the ancient graveyard.

I tried not to thread on any of the graves as I made my way to the spot I knew so well.

The grave was the best maintained one in the place. The grass neatly trimmed and flowers only fresh, I always made sure of that.

Standing there I read the words I knew off by heart by now.

"Here lays Edward Masen Snr. 1876-1918, a loving father and loving husband; and a caring man" I read before turning to the next head stone "Here lies Elizabeth Masen 1880-1918, a devote mother and wife; but a brave and cherished woman"

I had chosen those words years ago for my mother and father's headstones. Now of days they were seen as clichés but back then they were what was respectable and were taken from a list my mother and father had chosen as acceptable choices to represent them as they laid below the earth.

I usually came here to seek private time but today I had a purpose. In my arms I held one of the most precious people to me in the world. She lay sleeping her soft red ringlets smushed against her cheeks.

"Renesmee?" I whispered trying to rouse her. She was now three years old but resembled a five year old. "Renesmee?" I repeated and her brown eyes fluttered open. "Did you sleep well?" I asked her and she nodded.

"Daddy where are we?" she asked looking around her. "Where's Momma?" she asked.

"Momma's out shopping with Auntie Ali." I told her and Renesmee reached up to show me a picture of my sister looking ridiculously hyper while my wife trailed behind her looking devastatingly beautiful but bored. "Exactly Sweetheart. But remember you asked me a while ago about my Mommy and Daddy?" I asked her and she nodded.

"You said you would tell me another time" She said and I nodded.

"Well seeing as we're here visiting Chicago anyway your mother and I decided that while Alice made your mother suffer through a day of shopping I should show you what my life was like when I was human" I told her and she nodded.

"Have you showed Momma all this?"

"Yeah I've brought your mother all around my Chicago before but now it's your turn" I told her.

"But where are we know?" she asked as I put her down on her feet.

"See these two gravestones here?" I asked pointing to them, getting down to her level. "Those belong to my parents."

"What were their names?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Well here is your Grandpa Edward" I told her.

"Like you?" she asked and I nodded.

"And here is your Grandmother Elizabeth but she often told me if I had kids they could call her Grandma Lizzie." I explained and she nodded.

"Daddy why isn't Grandma Lizzie name in mine?" she asked.

"Because Momma and I wanted to name after all you're other Grandparents. But if you look at the birth certificate I wrote for you what does it says?" I asked her.

"Renesmee Carlie Masen Cullen" She said.

"The Masen part comes from Grandpa Edward and Grandma Lizzie"

"Huh?" she asked looking at me confusedly.

"Before Grandpa Carlisle changed me my name was Edward Masen" I explained and she nodded. "So you have two surnames"

"Oh right. Jake once told me Swan should be on my name aswell because everybody thinks you and Mommy weren't married when you made me" She said and I looked at her.

"What did your mother say?"

Renesmee reached up and touched my face with her hand again.

_Bella reached forward and hit Jake on the back of the head stopping his sniggering._

"_I was there Jacob. She was most definitely conceived in wedlock"_

"_How do we know that?" Jake asked her with a smirk._

"_Ask Jasper. Edward and I nearly killed him before the wedding with the s-..." She trailed off looking at Renesmee "Tension"_

I laughed at Renesmee's picture.

"So Swan's not suppose to be on my name?" she asked.

"No" I told her, when I felt the drop of rain on my head. "Come on Sweetheart, it's going to start raining" I told her zipping up her raincoat and popping her hood up. Alice had her in purple wellington boots as it was supposed to be raining on and off today, with a matching purple raincoat over a lovely purple and white dress.

"Can I walk?" she asked and I nodded linking hands with her. "Bye Grandpa Eddie and Grandma Lizzie" She called waving. I chuckled at the idea of her calling my father Grandpa Eddie; he had despised the nickname as much as I do. But I had a feeling should he have met Renesmee he would've accepted his title as Grandpa Eddie rather quickly. As much as I like to think Renesmee looked like Bella, she did look an awful like my mother which definitely would have made my father putty in her hands.

Renesmee knew how to bend everyone around her finger whether it was just flashing them her winning smile or being the charming child she was.

I hadn't bothered bringing my car with me; the rain was fairly light so Renesmee and I walked through the streets of Chicago hand in hand. To anyone passing I just looked like a young Dad with his little girl or an older brother with his little sister.

I pointed out building to Renesmee, telling her what they used to and looked like. Different anecdotes from my childhood that I could remember. She absorbed everything like a sponge eyes wide with excitement.

"Daddy what did you want to be when you got older?" she asked as I pointed to the building that was been my elementary school. I saw it was now empty but the gate was open so I lead her towards the gates so she could get a closer look.

"Well World War 1 was going on and I wanted to be a soldier. My parents weren't too happy about that but I felt like I needed to fight for my country." I explained.

"If you had met Momma when you were human what you have done?" she asked as I walked into the gates of the old school building.

"Married her straight away"

"Didn't you do that as a vampire?" she asked curiously.

"It took a lot of convincing on my part to convince your mother to marry me Renesmee"

"Why?"

"Because getting married at eighteen isn't normal in today's society."

"But if people love each other as much as you and Mommy love each other shouldn't you be together no matter what?" she asked.

"That was my point. Luckily she began to see my way otherwise we never would've gotten you Honey" I told her kissing her forehead.

I walked her around the back of my old school building as I knew it was a short cut to my parents' house. I lifted her over the low wall before hoping over myself.

I lead her down the old laneways to the old fashioned neighbourhood. The city had kept it preserved after I donated a lot of money to keep it look like it had the day I was born.

"Where are we going now Daddy?" Renesmee asked me.

"I'm going to show you where I lived when I was younger" I told her.

"Do we get to go inside?" she asked and I nodded. I still owned the house and had the keys with me.

"Here we are" I said letting her in through the gate. We walked up to the door and I unlocked it letting us in.

"This is a pretty house Daddy" Renesmee said walking in through the front door. When you entered the front door it brought you to this foyer where there where two giant archways to the side. One leading you to the parlour and dining room, the other to father's study and the family room. The parlour was reserved for entertaining guests but it housed one of the three pianos the house had in it. Another rested in the family room and the other was rested in the foyer itself.

The stairs final steps faced you as you walked in and lead you up in a spiral to the second floor which covered the same area as the first. The piano sat under that curve.

"Come on I'll show you around" I told her and she nodded following me into the parlour. "This was the room we used to host parties in" I explained and she nodded looking around her.

"The dining room is through there" I told her as I lead her down the back hallway which leads you down to the kitchen.

"How come it's not beside the dining room?" she asked.

"Because back then we had a cook who did all our cooking. Plus cooking wasn't the safest of activities so people like to have their kitchens away from the rest of their house in case it caught fire.

"Oh" She said as I sat her up on the counter "What was your favourite food when you were a kid?" she asked.

"Hmmm" I said thinking about it "Desert or dinner?" I asked.

"Both" She said with a smile.

"Well my favourite food for dinner was beef with potatoes, it was what we usually had for Sunday dinner" I told her. "And desert? Our cook was from England and used to make Trifle for us. It was like gellinton and cream." I told her.

"Cool" She said looking around her. Her eyes focused on the back yard and saw the wing my father had fashioned for me when I was seven.

"Do you want to see that backyard?" I asked her and she nodded her head, her curls bouncing as she did. I lifted her down off the counter top and carried her out to the back garden. I walked her over to the swing and sat her on it. It was made out of thick oak wood and I had the gardener treat it every so often so I knew it was safe for her to sit on.

"So you used to play out here?" she asked as I gently pushed her back and forth.

"Yup, my father made me this swing when I was seven" I told her "But before that I played with my toys out here."

"How come you didn't have little brothers or sisters?" she asked.

"My mother was unable to have any more children after I was born" I explained "Why?"

"Because I know why I don't have any but I don't get why you and Momma don't have any" She said and I realised that both Bella and I were only children just like Renesmee.

"Well yes it's true that only having you child was a bit unusual for people back when I was born but childbirth was still done in the home, with usually just a nurse coaching the mother on. Only the really rich ladies went to hospital to have their children and even they sometimes stayed home as it was comfortable for them." I explained.

"But what about Momma?" she asked looking up at me.

"I don't know but I say it had to do with that Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Renee were very young when they had your Momma and then they divorced some people don't like having more children after divorces. Some do but others don't saying it get complicated after that."

"If you and Momma could have more kids would you want them?" she asked as I continued to push her on my swing.

"I don't know Sweetheart" I told her honestly as the swing flew backwards pulling her through the air towards me, I thought about what she said. Would I want more children if it was possible?

Now I knew what the future entailed for such a child I wouldn't mind actually enjoying my wife carrying my child but of course it wasn't possible now that Bella was now a vampire. And even if it was possible I would still worry because who knew what sort of child two vampires could create together it would be ever so slightly ridiculous to even entertain the idea. Especially when our lives were so perfect

But had Bella been able to remain human after Renesmee's birth I say she would have requested it and two or three years later we try and conceive again. I didn't dwell on the idea though it would never be and my wife and daughter were more than I could ever hope to have.

"Daddy can see your old room?" she asked and I nodded helping her jump off the swing and we walked back to the house.

I carried her up the stairs because I knew some of the steps were warped but I wasn't sure which ones they were, I would be able to jump from them quickly but Renesmee's human side would make her reaction much slower.

Once on the landing I put her down and let her walk through all the different rooms.

"Daddy where's the bathroom or did you get rid of it?" she asked looking around her as she stood in my parents' room.

"Renesmee" I called and she walked out to the hallway to see me open the narrow door to reveal a pot. "This was the bathroom" I explained to her.

"What?" she asked.

"This house was built in the 1800's and indoor plumbing wasn't really around at the time" I told her as she looked at it with wide eyes.

"How did Grandma Lizzie use that? Daddy girls sit!" She exclaimed and I shrugged.

"I didn't think to ask her little Love in all honesty" I said shutting the door behind us and leading her up a small flight of steps to my old room. "I doubt she would have answered my queries in any way." I added opening the door. "Now this was the room I had as a boy" I told her.

"Wow" She said walking in and seeing the small bed barely five foot long, items from my childhood littered the room, items I had barely grown out of by the time I was hit with the Spanish Influenza.

Now I had great memories in this room, the most recent being when I had showed Bella the house and the two of us had been feeling a bit frisky, we're still in our newly mated stage of this life, a honeymoon phase if you will. And well when Bella asked me had I ever entertained the idea of being with her in my childhood room I wasn't going to be shunned from the male community in telling her no.

But even before that I had blurred human memories of my father telling me about baseball games he had seen or my mother telling me bedtime stories in this room, at they tucked me in at night for a night's sleep.

"Daddy?" Renesmee asked pulling away from my thoughts.

"Yes Sweetie?" I asked.

"Where you really that small when you were little?" she asked pointing to the bed and I smiled. I lay down on the bed and listened to her giggle when my legs dangled over the edge.

"My mother once told me the bed was wide enough to accommodate me as I used to sleep curled up in a ball" I told her.

"Just like I do?" Renesmee asked and I nodded standing up.

Renesmee and I spent a good hour in my room going through different items, me telling her what they were and stories behind them.

"Daddy do you smell that?" Renesmee asked and I focused in on my scent skills wondering what she was talking about. I smiled when I realised more so _who _it was she smelt. "Mommy!" Nessie squealed running towards the bedroom door as Bella appeared in the doorway.

"Hello Baby Girl" Bella said picking her up and putting her on her hip. "How was your day?" She asked our daughter while I put an old toy airplane on its shelf.

"Daddy showed me lots of stuff Mommy. He showed me Grandpa Eddie and Grandma Lizzie's graves and then were he went to school and then we were playing on the swing" She said with a smile.

"Sounds exciting" Bella said kissing Renesmee forehead.

"How was your shopping excursion Love?" I asked her as Renesmee jumped out of her mother's arms and sat down on my bed looking at a picture I had sat down.

"Never again Edward I swear Alice has problems" Bella sighed as I wrapped my arms around her.

"She did come from a mental home" I shrugged.

"Her parents weren't afraid of her visions they were afraid of ending up in financial ruin because of her" She said I silenced her rant by brushing my lips against hers. "I missed you" She murmured when we pulled away.

"Likewise" I told her while adorning that crooked smirk she loved so much.

"So did you show her the attic yet?" Bella asked and I shook my head.

"Next on the agenda Love" I told her.

"How'd she react to the 'bathroom'?" Bella asked putting air quotes around bathroom.

"She looked appalled before asking me how my mother used the bathroom." I told Bella truthfully. "Nessie come on I have one more place to show you" I told her and she jumped up off the bed and linked hands with me. I lead her and Bella out of my room and down to the end of the hallway. I let go and pulled down the old fashioned attic stairs case which came down at an angle from the ceiling. "Ladies first" I indicated to Bella so she could help Ness up the last wrung.

"Sure" Bella said quickly climbing up Renesmee quickly going up after her; I followed once I knew they were both up safely and shut the staircase behind me. Bella pulled on the string that the light bulb was attached to illuminating the room as I did.

"It's like Aladdin's Cave" Renesmee stated looking at all of the items I had had stored up here. Being the true to nature little girl she is she ran over to the large headless mannequin and pulled the protective lair off it. "Wow" She stated when she saw the large dress underneath it.

"That was your Grandmother's" Bella told Renesmee before saying something I didn't know at all "And when Auntie Ali was designing my wedding dress she based the style of it off this dress." Bella explained.

"You mean the pretty dress you wore the day you and Daddy got married?" Renesmee asked and Bella nodded.

"I didn't know that" I told Bella truthfully.

"Did you not?" she asked sounding shocked. "Didn't you find it weird that my wedding dress had the same silhouette of one fashioned in your mother's era?"

"Love in my defence I was thinking of more important things than the silhouette of the dress at the time, like how lucky I was" and when did I get to take it off her, I mentally added in my head judging by the smirk on her face she knew it. I then turned behind me trying to find what I was looking for.

I pulled up a dust cover and was happy to find it totally intact.

I blew the dust off it and lifted it up by its heavy base.

"Daddy what is that?" Renesmee asked looking at the dollhouse I had placed in front of her oddly.

"This belonged to my mother when she was around the same age as your mother was when I met her" I explained.

"Wasn't she a bit old for doll houses, I thought girls married young in your time, well that's what you told me when you were trying to convince me to marry you" Bella said with a mock glare.

"She was but this was how my father proposed" I explained "He took her for many walks around Chicago during their courtship."

"Daddy this dollhouse is a mini version of this house" Ness said and I nodded.

"Exactly, on one of their walks my mother pointed out this one and my father paid a lot of money to have this house perfectly reconstructed to give to her. He gave it to her on her seventeenth birthday with a male doll fashioned to be kneeling down in front of a standing female doll on the porch of it and inside was the ring he had purchased for her." I explained.

"Wow" Bella sighed "I get desperate pleas, while your mother gets a miniature house constructed for her."

"Had I reconstructed the cottage for you would that have made you marry me quicker?" I asked her and she sat on her knees thinking about it.

"We didn't know we were getting the cottage though" She said.

"I did" I said with a smirk.

"Well maybe I would have agreed quicker" Bella said with a smirk of your own.

"Hey there's a baby in here" Renesmee said and I nodded.

"My mother discovered she was pregnant with me when my father was away on a business trip so she had the room that would be mine decorated in the dollhouse and had a toy maker fashion a small crib with a baby in it. When my father returned home she asked him could he retrieve her reading glasses for her, she had left them in front of the open dollhouse, so when he saw reached for them he noticed the difference" I explained. "This would have been mine had I been a girl and my mother told me to save it for her granddaughter"

"It's mine?" Renesmee asked in awe and I nodded.

We quickly left the attic after that both Bella and I being cautious of the dust and how it would affect Renesmee. I promised I would collect the dollhouse for Renesmee tomorrow before we returned to Forks as we walked out of the house.

Renesmee held both Bella and my hand as we walk down the street the rain falling all around us; she giggled as we swung her by the arms and helped her jump in the puddle, her laugh which could only be described as bells chiming caused a wide smile to spread across my face.

As we walked I was overcome with an image.

I was in a brown suit, top with a day wear hat, Bella dawned a dress with a raised collar and knee length skirt, her hair twisted up in a bun under a hat, our arms hooked in one another's as I held a sturdy umbrella, in front of us walked a little girl and boy both dressed in similar attire.

"Son don't rush too far ahead" I called to the boy ahead of me, the little boy turned around and I saw he looked like a perfect copulation of myself and Bella's father Charlie.

"Yes Papa" He called back while the little girl turned back revealing herself to be Renesmee and giggled.

"Edward?" my own father's voice called and I looked back. There he stood my mother on his arm "Don't dwell on what could have been but what you have" He said when I heard my name being called.

"Edward?" Bella's voice called snapping me out of my daydream.

"Yes Love?" I asked.

"While you were off in your own little world Nessie and I decided that all this walking deserved some ice cream" She said and Renesmee nodded up at me.

I nodded and we went to get her some ice cream.

As I watched Bella and Renesmee giggle with each other as they talked I realised my father's words had been right.

My life was damn right perfect right now and I wouldn't hesitate in putting my life on the line to protect it.

And that's what having true love for someone meant.

Only I was lucky I had it for two people, and both of them returned it full heartedly and that's all I could asked for.

Yes my life was good

**THE END**

**I know what you're thinking does she have no life?**

**But this has been on my computer for months; since I wrote 'I Am Not There, I Do Not Sleep' and you know I like to share these things.**

**Review please I wanted to see what you thought of this one.**

**Love The Irish Cullen.**


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